Dave's Page
Dave Campbell, and his wife Emma, were one of the original couples of the Midwest Nostalgia Super Stock Association and now Nostalgia Super Stock Inc. Dave has compiled a complete history of the Club which includes letters to members, magazine articles, Club newsletters and pictures from events. This page includes just the first few pages from that history. If you would like to contact Dave regarding this history, please do so at dlescampbell@fairpoint.net
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The following replication is the first “Nostalgia News” publication from Midwest Nostalgia Super Stock Association.
Nostalgia News
Volume 1 April 7, 1991 Issue #1
From the driver’s seat
Welcome to a new organization named the Midwest Nostalgia Super Stock Association. The purpose of this organization is to provide a program for the promoters and fans and at the same time have fun doing it. No more stomp on the throttle then stomp on the brakes or electronic gadgets to put up with. I am sure you know what I am talking about!
Our purpose will be to provide a program that the promoter will want to have return to his track and will recommend to other promoters. This will also provide a program that the fans will like because they are the ones who ultimately pay the bills. If we don’t do the two things I previously mentioned, we will be History, along with our car, which brings me to another point. This organization was formed so that we, a group of people who are interested in nostalgia-type racing, (hopefully with everyone’s help) will be able to book some races so that everyone has an opportunity to attend. At this time we have 21 members, therefore, some will not be able to participate because the promoter will only pay for a set number of cars agreed upon prior to race day.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors will be responsible for contacting those members who are selected to attend each event. The chairman will also attempt to get free entry for anyone who wishes to bring his car and participate for fun. After all, that is why we are doing this in the first place. . . for fun, no fighting, feuding or fussing. If anyone has a problem, put that problem on paper and send it to the Chairman of the Board and he will take it up with the Board and try to resolve it to everyone’s satisfaction.
A brochure with each racer’s picture and information about him and our organization is being mailed to selected promoters in the Midwest so they can see what we have to offer. Information concerning future dates will be sent to you as it becomes available.
Events . . . Etc. . .
Our first scheduled event is at Gateway International Raceway in the St. Louis area on May 4th and 5th. As soon as you have been notified that you have been selected to attend; or if you are to selected and want to attend for free entry (for car, driver and one crew person), motel reservations are available at the Holiday Inn in Collinsville, IL. Price is $45.00 a night and be sure to mention that you are with Len Greco Promotions to get that price. If you have any questions call our Chairman, Rick Johnson.
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The following article appeared in Muscle Cars, September 1990 issue. “Horsepower Invades St. Louis” by Wayne Scraba, stated that the separation of this third annual event from the previous events was the horsepower—three L-88 Corvettes, a ’65 Cobra and a ’67 427 Fairlane. The event was attended by 7-8,000 spectators and has $10,000+ of prize money. “The dash for the cash could best be described as warfare in the trenches, but when all of the tire smoke had cleared, one of Tim Thorpe’s Corvettes had turned a best elapsed time of 12.2 seconds in the 1320 at a whopping 118 miles per hour. And that was on street tires with the exhaust system corked!”
Featured in the article with pictures were Russ Campbell and his ’62 Chevrolet post and Jim Whittenburg and his ’63 Ford. Rick Johnson and his ’62 Super Duty paired with the ’61 409 owned by Don Shaffer. Mike Riefer, owner of the ’63 Max wedge paired with Dave Campbell in his ’63 409 Biscayne (Faded Memories). Scraba goes on to say, regarding Campbell and Riefer, “both vintage racers ran in the special Super Stock eliminator, but with acts like this, memories of the old factory drag strip wars will live forever—faded or not!
1991 (Dave Campbell sums up the groups activities for the year.)
By this time word was getting around about our group. The magazine article in Muscle Car magazine, along with Len Greco promoting our race cars, other racers became interested in what we were doing.
Our first race was for Len at Gateway on May 4-5, 1991. the next race, we were invited to attend the Super Ford Extravaganza held at Milan Dragway in Milan, Michigan on July 19-21, 1991.
August 9-11, 1991, we were invited to participate in the Good Guys Hot Rod Happening in Indianapolis, IN at IRP. (2008 will be our 18th year at Good Guys Indy).
Russ Smiltniek purchased the National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) from Chuck Green who started the organization. In 1989 Russ called Rick to see if our group would come to Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, TN to participate in the MNCA World Finals on September 14-15, 1991. Our group along with some racers out of the Southeast did some match racing exhibition style that weekend. The NMCA organization wanted to see our cars to see if they wanted to start a class for Nostalgia Super Stock Race Cars.
Magazine articles and pictures:
Aug/Oct 1991 issue of Rotunda Times on the Super Ford event
Sept 1991 issue Midwest Drag Racing Magazine – Super Ford event
Dec 1991 issue Muscle Cars magazine at Memphis—NMCA event
Poster—Super Ford
Poster—Muscle from the Past
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1989 Nostalgia Movement
The Nostalgia movement began in May of 1989 when Russ Campbell called and asked if I would join him at Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis, for an exhibition match race for Len Greco a promoter out of Fenton, MO. Len started promoting “Muscle from the Past” shows. Russ had a ’62 409 Chevy and a friend of his also had a ’62. That event was where we met Rick Johnson and his ’62 Pontiac. The four of us did some match racing that day for Len.
1989 National Muscle Car Association (NMCA)
In August of 1989 Emma and I, along with several other 60’s race cars, traveled to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to do some exhibition runs for the NMCA. This was a newly formed organization owned by Chuck Green.
The following magazine articles with pictures covered the event:
Sept/Oct issue 1989 “Fast Class” Magazine (NMCA), ‘The 409s’ by Robert Bravender. This article featured Jim Goodwyn’s ’62 Belair, The Murphy’s ’62 Belair, Jim Jones’ ’62 Chevy Biscayne, Dave Campbell’s ’63 Belair, and Ron Kukuruda’s ’67 Hemi Belvedere.
Dec issue 1989 “Super Street Machine” Magazine, ‘HI-PO Show’. Pictured in this article were Ken Dvorak’s ’67 Ford Fairlane XL 427, Dave Campbell’s ’63 Belair, and a ’63 Dodge Ramcharger convertible powered by a 426, owned by Mike Davis. (Dave says that it is the only Max Wedge light weight convertible from the factory that he knows of, left in existence.) As the article states, “The beauty of the NMCA is its ability to attract both the old and the new. …It’s watching the old shoebox racers thundering down the quarter-mile for a taste of yesteryear. It’s two buddies getting together to exchange information and bench race. Being a member of the NMCA is all these things.”
1990 Midwest Nostalgia Super Stock Association
During the winter of 1989, Len Greco called Rick Johnson and asked if he thought he could put together eight or ten 60’s style race cars for exhibition match racing for his show on June 5-6, 1990, at Gateway.
Rick called me and together we succeeded in getting enough cars together for a show. Len Greco was impressed enough with our group, that he invited us to Kansas City International Raceway (KCIR) for an event held on July 28-29, 1990.
It was at this event a meeting was held at Dave and Emma’s house to discuss the possibility of forming a group of racers to do heads up style match racing which became known as the “Midwest Nostalgia Super Stock Association” (MNSSA).
A lot of credit goes to Len Greco for promoting our group as he really liked our cars, the quality of our cars, and he liked how we conducted ourselves. He was able to get us in magazines, he put us on his fliers, and he put us on the map. From that point forward our group was the forerunner of Nostalgia Super Stock Match Racing or a form of Nostalgia racing as I remember.
Muscle Cars, Sept 1990, covered the Gateway International Raceway event. The article, ‘Horsepower invades St. Louis’, by Wayne Scraba featured several cars. As Wayne Scraba indicated, “Toss 500 musclecars into a bull ring in St. Louis, mix in $10,000-plus of prize money and then throw in 7-8,000 spectators and you know something is going to happen.”